Title

Authors

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 2015

Course Name

FY 103.32 - Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History

Faculty

Jeanne Buckley

Department

First Year Seminar, Arcadia University Undergraduate Curriculum

Abstract

According to society, Lucy Stone was a badly-behaved woman, but according to her impact on feminism today, Stone was just an intelligent, courageous and outspoken woman. Stone succeeded in becoming the first woman from her state of Massachusetts to earn a college degree and became the first woman to not take her husband’s last name. By not letting societal norms and ideals hold her back from doing what she wanted, Stone worked through hardships and challenges in both her personal and professional life, but she soldiered on and continued voicing her thoughts and opinions to women nationwide. Though many women were limited in what they could or couldn’t do, Stone defied that, which led to her being expelled from her church and, while protesting against the taxation without representation of women, had her household goods publicly impounded and sold. After a disagreement with other renown women, such as Susan B. Anthony, Stone helped organize the American Woman Suffrage Association and was able to impact millions of women during her time and in the generations that would follow.